Process of tinning or coating metal sheets with tin or other metallic coatings.



No. 811,854. PATENTgD FEB. 6, 1906.

- J. LBB. PROCESS OF TINNING 0R COATING METAL SHEETS WITH TIN OR OTHER METALLIC COATINGS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 18, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

1 jliarngq No. 811,854. J LEE PATENTED FEB. 6, 1906. PROCESS OF TINNING 0R COATING METAL SHEETS WITH TIN OR OTHER METALLIC COATINGS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 1a, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Jill/61x32); Ja/m/Lee UNITED STATES 1 JOHN LEE, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

PATE T. OFFICE.

PROCESS OF TlNNING R COATING META L SHEETS WlTH TIN OR OTHER METALLIC COATINGS.

Specification ot Letters Patent.

Patented at. e, 1906.

Application filed August 18; 1903. Serial No. 169,930.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN LEE, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia,

in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useic coatings. v

Heretofore in manufacturing tin-plate or coating sheets with metallic coatings it hasbeen customary to immerse in or convey the sheets to be coated through a tinning pot or vessel containing molten tin or other coating metal furnished with tinning-rolla between ing collecting at theextreme lower edge of which the sheets pass and the extentor thickness of the metallic coating is ordinarily regulated or governed by the speed at which the sheets are passed through the tinnin'g-pot,

and in the method or process heretofore in use the sheets are produced with a selvage edge, owing to the tin or other metallic coatthe sheet as it passesout of the tinning-pot,

which is not only detrimental in the cutt' g up of the tin-plate, but results in a considerable' loss due to the excess of coating material unnecessarily used. In the process or method heretofore in use also the capacity of the tinning-machine is comparativelydimited, owing to the time required for the molten tinto properly flow oil of the freshlycoated sheet as it passes out of the molten tin between the finishing-rolls, and heretofore and cheaply than by the process or method also the surface of the sheets are left smeared to a greater or less extent with palm+oil or other flux used in the tinning operation and require to be cleaned with bran'or other cleanin material at considerable expense.

he object of my invention is to provide an improved process or method of tinning or coating metal sheets with tin or other metal lic coating by means of which the extent or thickness of the coating may be regulated accurately and controlled inde endent of the speed of the sheets assing t ough the tinning-pot, by which t e production of the selvage edges on the sheets or coatings of extra thickness at the edges may be revented or avoided, and by means of whic the sheets be tinned or coated much more rapldly heretofore in use, and by means of which also the freshly-tinned sheets may be produced as they come fromthe tinning-pot substantially free or clean from oil or flux upon their surfaces.

coated surfaces of the sheets as they pass upward from the tinning-pot. By this means the surplus tin while it is yet molten may be removed from the surface of the sheet as it issuesfrom the tinning-pot, the extent or thickness of the coating accurately regulated and made uniform throughout the entire surface of the sheet at the extreme edges thereof as well as elsewhere, and this independent of the speed at which the sheets to be'tinned pass through and out of the tinning-pot. By varying the pressure of the hot air or other fluid projected against the 7 surface of freshly-tinned sheet as it passes u ward out of the tinning-pot the coatin 0 tin or of other coating metal may be made of any thickness desired whatever may be the speed at which the sheets-pass throu h the tinningpot. This enablesme not 0 y to coat the sheets accurately and uniformly with the desired thickness of coatin but also to very greatly increase the s cc or ca acity of the tinnin machine. Ti lie super eated compresse air applied to the surfaces of the sheet as it issues from the tinning-pot also effectually removes the palm-oil, grease, or other flux em loyed in the tinning operation from the sur aces of the sheet, so that tinlate produced by my process requires very ittle, if any, subsequent cleaning. This effects a great saving in expense. By my process also the tin is prevented from collecting at the lower edge of the sheet and producing the customary selvage edge. I ani thus enabled by my process not only to roduce superior tin-plate, but also to save t e loss incident to the excess of tin or metal on the sheet at its selvage edge.

To enable my process to be more fully and .ClBQJlY llSidGIStOOd by those skilled in theart to which it relates, Ihave in the accompanythe . In said drawings, Figure 1 is aside elevation, partly in vertical section, of an apparatus which may be used in practicing my inventi'on. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through a portion of the tinning-pot and through they device for projecting or applying superheated IO or compressed air to the freshly-tinned sheet as it passes from the tinning-pot. Fig. 3 is a to or plan view of the same. Fig. 4 is a detail front of the air-blast tube or nozzle, and s Fig. 5 is a cross-section showing another construction of the air-blast tube or nozzle.

I In practicing-my invention any ordinary form of tinning-machine or tinning-pot and mechanism for conveying the sheets through the pot and of liftingor conveying the same 0. upward as they pass out of the pot may be used, such as'are now'commonly in use and familiar to those skilled in theart. rily, however, Iprefer to use the well-known form of tinning mechanism shown, for example, in the E. Norton patents, Nos. 535,394 or 535,395, and for convenience I have in the accompanying drawings indicated this form t of tinning-machine or tinning-pot and lifter and for more full descriptions of which 1 '0 would refer to said patents. I

Inthe drawings, A represents the tinningpot, furnished with the customary tinning and conveying rolls a a and finishing-rolls a a and guides a by which the sheet is fed and guided through the molten tin A in the tinning-pot and up through the oil or fluxA which covers the surface of the molten tin.

' B represents any customary'form of lifting or conveying mechanism for grasping, lifting, 0 and conveying the sheets upward as they pass out of the molten'tin in the tinning-pot. suitable form of lifting mechanism is tully described in said Patent No. 535,394 before referred to and being familiar to those skilled in-the art needs no further description.

C're'presents an air compressor or pump, D a heater forh'eating the compressed E E. conductor-pi es leading to the-air-blast tubes or nozzlesF which are mounted just above-the tinning-pot and one on each side of the freshly-coated sheet 'X as it issues from the tinnin -pot and by which. superheated compresse air is applied, projected, or delivered, against the freshly-coated sheet as it 5 5 Issues from the molten tin inthe tinning-p'ot and while the tin coating on its surfaces is yet in a fluid condition. he air-blast tubes F i g each have a slot or'opemng f extending the len th ofthesame, hich is substantially the w1 th of the sheet, so that the superheated compressed air is projected or applied against the .holersurfac'e of the sheet as it passes upward between the compressed airapplying devices of nozzles F F. The slot or-opening in each of the nozzles or airdevices F is Ordinaing-screws h air, and

made adjustable by means of the nozzleplate f ,'applied thereto by screws f By using nozzle-plates of different thicknesses or by backing the same up with other similar plates-of greater or less thickness the size of the nozzle-opening may be adjusted as may be required. I As 'il ustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the size of the nozzle slot or opening may be adjusted by an adjusting-screw f To en able the superheated compressed-air-delivery tubes or nozzles F F to be swung back out of the way, their connecting-pipes F have a hinged or pivotal connection F with the airpipes E E. The position of the slotted airdelivery tubes F F in respect to proximity to the sheet may be adjusted by adjusting the position of the hinged arms F F onthe slotted brackets H H,which are attached to the tinnin -pot'. This adjustment is effected by the. bo lts h, which connect the hinged arms F F with said slotted brackets.

The superheated compressed air slotted delivery tubes F, F are downwardly inclined toward the sheet, and thus project the blast of superheated compressed air downwardly or at an angle to the tinned plate X as it passes up out. of the tinning-pot. The angle at which the hot air is projected against the sheet may be regulated by the adjust- The superheated compressedair thus 'deliyered downwardly 01 at an angle against the freshly-tinned sheet as it issues from the tinning-pot is preferably heated by the furnace or heater D to a temperature approximating that of molten tin. While in practicing my invention I'prefer to use air as the heated fluid projected against the freshlytinned sheet to remove the surplus tin coating therefrom, to regulate the thickness of the coating and make the same uniform A throughout the"sur face of the sheet other fluids than air may be used for this pur ose -without departing from the principle 0, my

invention. I

Valves K K K in the pipes E E regulate the pressure and quantity of superheated compressed air delivered against the tinned sheet as it issues from the'tinnlng-pot. The p air-heating chamber D is provided with a gage d for indicating the pressure and a thermometer d for indicating the temperature to enable the same to be regulated.

By adjusting the air-delivery devices FF to or from the sheet passing between them varying the angle or inclination at which the hot air or other heated fluid is delivered against the ing the pressure and temperature of the hot air or other fluid and the size of the delivery slot or opening f any desiredthickness of tin or other metallic coating on the sheet'X may be produced, and this independent of the speed of the tinningmachine, or, in other Words, the speed of the sheets X assing through the tinni'ng-pot.

This enab es the ,i

tinning mechanism to be run at a high s e'ed and at its full and proper speed as a n ce anism. .By my invention t e capacity of the ordinary tinning machine may thus be very greatly increased, also in this way diminishing the cost of manufacturing tin-plate or other metallic coated sheets.

To ive room for the lifting-fingers b b of the lifter to grasp the sheet at its edges, as is customary, the slotted hot-air-delivery tubes or devices F F are furnished with notches f 4 at their extreme ends.

I claim 1. The process of tinning or coating metal sheets with metallic coatings, consisting in passing or conveying the metal sheets to be coated through the molten coating metal and the oil or flux thereon, and subjecting the sheets as they pass with theirlower edges horizontal up out of the coating metal and the oil or flux thereon, to superheated compressed air projected in a wide blast a proximately the width of the sheet against the surfaces of the sheet while the tin or metal coating thereon is yet fluid, whereby the tinning operation is facilitated, the thickness of the tin coating regulated and made uniform; moved; selvage edges at the bottom edges of the sheets prevented, and the surface of thesheet cleaned from grease, oil or flux substantially as specifie 2. The rocessoftinnin ,consistin in ass- P i g P ing with their lower edges orizontal sheets to be tinned up throu h molten tin. and the oil or flux thereon and projecting superheated compressed air in a wide blast a proximately the width of the sheet against the surfaces of the sheet as they issue upwardly from the tin ning-pot, and while th tin coatin thereon is yet fluid, substantially as specified;

3. The process of coating metalsheets with a metallic coating consistlng 1n passing the sheet with its lower edge horizontal upwardly through molten metal and the oil or flux surplus tin rehorizonta upwardly the oil 4. The process of tinning metal sheets conj sisting in passing the sheet with its lower edge horizonta u wardly through molten tin and the oil or me thereon and between wide blasts of heated fluid projected downwardly against the sheet as it issues from the inolten tin and the oil or flux thereon, substantially as specified.

5; The process of coating metal sheets with metallic coating, consisting in passin the sheet with its lower edge horizonta upwardl through the molten coating metal and the oi or flux thereonbetween wide blasts of heated air projected downwardly against the surfaces of the sheet, whereby the tinning o eration is facilitated; the thickness of the tincoating regulated and made uniform; surplus tinremoved; selvage edges at the bottom edges of the sheets prevented, and the surface of the sheet cleaned from grease, oil or :flux substantially as specified.

6. The process of tinning meta] sheets consisting in assing a sheet with its lower edge through molten tin and or flux thereon between wide blasts of hot air as it issues from a tinning-pot, and

while the tin coating thereon is yet molten,

substantially as specified.

JOHN LEE. Witnesses:

Tnos. J. HUNT, H. S. HAINEs. 

